Us Against You cover art

Us Against You

From the New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove and Anxious People

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Us Against You

By: Fredrik Backman
Narrated by: John Sackville
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About this listen

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Us Against You by Fredik Backman, read by John Sackville.

A small, broken town sits on the edge of a frozen lake surrounded by a forest, its wounds still raw from a tragedy that tore its fragile community in two.

Beartown has lost its way. Now the cold and dark that surround the snowbound town creep in, and so do new conflicts and tensions. What was once a friendly rivalry with the neighbouring town is beginning to turn sinister and Beartown braces itself for another tragic blow.

How far will the people of Beartown go to preserve their reputations for a second, deadly time?

Us Against You is a spell-binding exposition of small-town life in all its flawed complexity.

 Crime Thrillers Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Psychological Sports Thriller Thriller & Suspense Crime Heartfelt Suspense

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Critic reviews

Praise for Beartown and Fredrik Backman
I utterly believed in the residents of Beartown, and felt ripped apart by the events in the book (Jojo Moyes)
Surrounded by impenetrable forests, it recreates the stifling atmosphere of a dying community. This is a mature, compassionate novel

Backman can tickle the funny bone and tug on the heart strings when he needs to, and is a clever enough storyteller to not overindulge in either
As popular Swedish exports go, Backman is up there with ABBA and Stieg Larsson.
Friday Night Lights for Swedes
A kind of problem play that moves extremely skilfully near the melodramatic without derailing. Its originality is substantial and the book credibly conveys the dual faces of everyday life. An impressive novel, like no other
Praise for Us Against You
A story about families, about friendship and loyalty, inequality, female vulnerability, male back-slapping, and parenthood ... No person's story is too little to be told, Backman includes them all. A novel with a big heart
Evident in all [Backman] novels is an apparent ability to state a truth about humanity with breathtaking elegance
All stars
Most relevant
Incredible sequel to Beartown. Fredrik Backman is an outstanding writer. The depth of compassion and thoroughness he approaches these big issues with is mindblowing.
These books explore masculinity, in view of toxic masculinity. But there is nothing black and white here though. First book explored it more from the feminine viewpoint (and despite being a male writer he did 110%justice to it), second explored it more from the male point of view.
I have cried like never before while listening - my heart broke over and over in the most beautiful way. Catharsis is rarely reached by reading, but God knows these two made it happen.

Outstanding

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After enjoying Beartown so much, I wasn't sure I would've liked this book... Well in the end it was even better! You can't not fall in love with all the complexity of Beartown's inhabitants, although you must be prepared to see someone go and leave. Now I'm looking forward to reading part 3 of this trilogy: The Winners.

Can't wait to read volume 3 now

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Having read Beartown and Us against You I felt I was part of that world.

I never wanted it to end

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Didn’t realise there were any more books after Beartown, when I saw this I didn’t hesitate. I didn’t think it would draw me in as much as the first one, it’s a slow burn, but it completely got me. Walked to work some extra days to get focussed listening time. One more to go, but I’m going to take a short break before I savour that one. Fredrik Backman is such an amazing writer and John Sackville is a brilliant narrater.

Loved it

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A decent story picking up themes and style of the first one written with such compassion and narrated brilliantly the story has a good sprinkling of laugh out loud humour and the changing room is especially funny.

Good 2nd book

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